Fixed wireless telephone device

ABSTRACT

Methods and apparatus are disclosed for establishing a fixed wireless telephone service. A fixed wireless device includes a wireless device for establishing wireless connections to a wireless communications network that interfaces with a public switched telephone network. The fixed wireless device includes a connection that provides telephone service for an ordinary POTS-based telephone, handset, computer, or other communication device. Various techniques are provided for monitoring during use and/or verifying prior to use whether the fixed wireless device remains in an intended fixed location.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Applicationwith Ser. No. 60/405,954, filed on Aug. 26, 2002 and entitled METHODSAND APPARATUS FOR ESTABLISHING A FIXED WIRELESS TELEPHONE SERVICE.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention is related to providing access to telephoneservices. More particularly, the present invention is related toestablishing a fixed wireless telephone jack through which the telephoneservices may be provided.

BACKGROUND

Providing telephone services to fixed locations conventionally involvesinstalling landlines to the locations where telephone services areneeded. Installation of landlines may take months in many areas of theworld, such as in developing countries and in remote areas of developedcountries. In addition to requiring a relatively lengthy amount of time,landline installation is expensive for the service provider as well asthe customer in need of telephone service. Therefore, providingtelephone services through landline installations is not necessarily afeasible option.

Providing telephone services through mobile phone cellular networks doesnot require that a landline be installed to the location where telephoneservices are needed, but wireless mobile phones themselves areexpensive. Additionally, usage charges for wireless phones are typicallymuch higher than those for a conventional landline telephone due totelecommunications regulatory provisions applicable to mobile phones anddue to the limited availability of radio-frequency bandwidth.Furthermore, the portable nature of wireless phones may periodicallyresult in lower communication quality than landline telephone service.For example, mobile phones are susceptible to dropped calls or noisewhile moving from place to place, and additionally the antenna of thewireless phone may be inadequate within buildings or other structuresdue to signal attenuation. Thus, mobile phones are not necessarily adesirable option for providing telephone services.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present invention address these and other problems byproviding a wireless device that is intended to be in a fixed locationand that provides telephone service to a POTS telephone or other POTSdevice by communicating through a wireless telephone system. This allowsa wireless telephone system to provide telephone service rather thanrunning landlines to the end user to provide the telephone service.

One embodiment is a method of providing telephone service that involvesproviding a wireless device to provide telephone service to a POTSdevice by communicating through a wireless telephone system. It isdetected whether an attempt to use the wireless device is occurring at afirst location by analyzing switch records to determine base stationinformation indicative of whether the wireless device is at the firstlocation when in use.

Another embodiment is a method of providing telephone service thatinvolves providing a wireless device to provide telephone service to aPOTS device by communicating through a wireless telephone system. It isdetected whether an attempt to use the wireless device is occurring at afirst location by storing an indication of the first location in amemory and utilizing a geonavigational position system receiver to findan indication of the current location. The current location is comparedto the first location.

Another embodiment is a wireless device for providing telephone serviceto a POTS device by communicating through a wireless telephone system.The wireless device includes a memory storing an indication of a firstlocation and a geonavigational position system receiver for producing anindication of a current location. A comparator compares the indicationof the first location to the indication of the current location todetermine whether the wireless device is at the first location.

Another embodiment is a method of providing telephone service thatinvolves providing a wireless device to provide telephone service to aPOTS device by communicating through a wireless telephone system. It isdetected whether an attempt to use the wireless device is occurring at afirst location by transmitting a signal from the first location andattempting to receive the signal at the wireless device.

Another embodiment is a system for providing telephone service to a POTSdevice connected to a wireless device that communicates through awireless telephone network. The system includes an emitter separate fromthe wireless device that produces a first signal and a receiver at thewireless device that is configured to receive the first signal when inproximity to the emitter. The receiver provides an indication ofreceiving the first signal to indicate that the wireless device is inproximity to the emitter.

Another embodiment is a wireless device for providing telephone serviceincluding data transmission. The wireless device includes a datatransfer component for receiving digital data and producing a POTSsignal that includes the digital data. A converter provides a wirelesssignal that includes the digital data in response to receiving the POTSsignal. Wireless components transfer the wireless signal that includesthe digital data through a wireless telephone system.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an external view of one embodiment of the present inventionthat includes a fixed wireless device providing telephone servicethrough an associated RJ-11 jack.

FIG. 2 shows the major internal components of one embodiment of thefixed wireless device.

FIG. 3 shows additional components of one embodiment of a fixed wirelessdevice that determines whether the fixed wireless device remains in afixed location by utilizing geonavigational positioning.

FIG. 4 shows additional components of another embodiment of a fixedwireless device that determines whether the fixed wireless deviceremains in a fixed location by using network models.

FIG. 5 shows additional components of another embodiment of a fixedwireless device that is fixed within a vehicle that determines whetherthe fixed wireless device remains within the vehicle.

FIG. 6 shows additional components of another embodiment of a fixedwireless device that provides built-in data transfer capabilities.

FIG. 7 shows one example of the converter circuitry that may be utilizedby the various embodiments of FIGS. 2–7 to convert between plain oldtelephone service signaling and cellular mobile phone signaling.

FIG. 8 shows an example of the operational flow of a processor of theconverter circuitry of FIG. 7 to handle incoming and outgoing calls.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present invention provide fixed wireless telephoneservice by utilizing a fixed wireless device that includes a jack forconnection to an ordinary telephone. The ordinary telephone may then beused to answer incoming calls or to place an outgoing call. The incomingor outgoing calls are then established through the wireless connectionachieved through the fixed wireless device. Under certaintelecommunications regulations, while the fixed wireless device remainsfixed the telephone service may be provided at rates less than those oftypical wireless services. Certain embodiments may provide varioustechniques for verifying and/or ensuring that the fixed wireless deviceremains fixed during telephone calls.

FIG. 1 shows one embodiment of a fixed wireless device 102 and thecommunication paths that establish telephone services. The fixedwireless device 102 provides a jack 104, such as an RJ-11 style jack,that allows an ordinary telephone or basic handset 106 to connect to thefixed wireless device 102. The ordinary telephone 106 may be a standardcorded or cordless telephone typically used with landline telephoneservices. Additionally, the fixed wireless device 102 may be containedwithin a housing 103 that allows the fixed wireless device 102 to securethe internal components. The fixed wireless device 102 may be mounted invarious ways such as on a tabletop or on a wall indoors and alsooutdoors if the housing 103 is properly sealed.

The fixed wireless device 102 is powered through one of various powersources. For example, the fixed wireless device 102 may utilize a walladapter coupling 108 to receive power from a public utility.Alternatively, the fixed wireless device 102 may be powered by abattery, solar cell, or other source of electricity. The fixed wirelessdevice 102 may include a visual indicator on the exterior of the housing103 to indicate that the device 102 is receiving power and/or isoperating correctly.

To establish wireless communications, the fixed wireless device 102 mayinclude an additional antenna 110 or, as discussed below with referenceto FIG. 2, may rely solely upon an antenna of a wireless phone includedwithin the fixed wireless device 102. However, the additional antenna110 may be an extended antenna that is placed outside a building thatthe fixed wireless device 102 is located within to increase the rangeand/or quality of the wireless connection. The fixed wireless device 102communicates wireless radio frequency signals to a base station tower112 or similar antenna structure that is in communication with a basestation 114. This wireless communication may utilize various wirelessprotocols and/or multi-accessing techniques such as AMPS, time divisionmultiple access (“TDMA ”), code division multiple access (“CDMA”), aswell as many others such as WCDMA, GSM, 1xRTT (with CDMA), Edge (withTDMA), GPRS (with GSM), CDMA 2000, 1xEVDO, and 1xEVDV

The base station 114 controls wireless communication to wireless phonesfor a particular geographical area defined by the signal range of thetower 112. To complete the wireless communications, the base station 114communicates with a mobile switching center 116 that may also be incommunication with base stations of neighboring geographical areas. Thecommunication between the base station 114 and the mobile switchingstation 116 may be through various techniques such as overtelecommunication trunks or through a TCP/IP protocol network. Themobile switching center 116 establishes communication between thewireless phones for a base station 114 and the public switched telephonenetwork 118 through conventional communications techniques. Thus,telephone services are provided between the ordinary telephone 206 andthe public switched telephone network 118 through the wireless telephonenetwork via the fixed wireless device 102.

The major components of one embodiment of the fixed wireless device 102are shown in FIG. 2. In the example shown, the fixed wireless device 102includes a mobile phone 204 to provide the wireless communications tothe base station 114. It will be appreciated that rather than utilizinga whole mobile phone 204, a wireless transceiver chipset may be usedinstead. In either case, the phone 204 or stand-alone transceiver may bea refurbished or otherwise used piece of equipment that has beenpreviously retired from service. Reusing the wireless equipment in thisfashion reduces the costs associated with providing the fixed wirelessdevice 102.

The wireless phone 204 or chipset is connected to additional componentsto establish telephone services through the fixed wireless device 102.An existing antenna of the phone 204 may be used to complete the airinterface for the wireless communications, or the antenna 110 that iscoupled to the phone 204 or chipset through coupling 206 may also beincluded to enhance the communication range of the fixed wireless device102. Additionally, the phone 204 or transceiver chipset is linkedthrough a coupling 208 to additional circuitry of printed circuit board(“PCB”) 202. Additionally, power for the phone 204 or chipset may bereceived through the coupling 208 or by an existing battery of the phone204. For example, the coupling 208 may be an adapter specific to aparticular phone for connection to the auxiliary port of the phone 204.

The PCB 202 adapts the wireless phone 204 or chipset for use with astandard telephone 106 of FIG. 1. The PCB 202 includes variouscomponents represented generally as blocks. It will be appreciated thatthese block components may be provided in various forms includingapplication specific integrated circuits, field programmable logicdevices, or a general-purpose computer system executing applicationprograms to perform the various operations. The components of theprinted circuit board 202 generally provide the various aspects ofordinary telephone service through the RJ-11 jack 104 and the conversionof ordinary telephone and cellular telephone signals passing between theRJ-11 jack 104 and the coupling 208. The PCB 202 is powered through thewall adapter coupling 108 or other power source as discussed above.

The components of the PCB 202 act as a converter 216 to convert betweenthe mobile cellular phone signaling and plain old telephone service(“POTS”) signaling. The converter 216 includes any or all of thefollowing devices. An encoder 210 may be included to provide a dialtone, busy tone, error, or off-hook timeout signal through the RJ-11jack 104 to the ordinary telephone or basic handset 106 upon the userattempting to use the telephone 106. A ring tone generator 212 may beincluded to provide ring tone voltage through the RJ-11 jack 104 to theordinary telephone 106 upon an incoming call being received through thefixed wireless device 102 to cause the ordinary telephone 106 to ring asis customary for an incoming call. Furthermore, a DTMF tone sender 214may be included to produce data signals corresponding to analog tonesproduced by the ordinary telephone, such as tones resulting from theuser pressing a key of the telephone 106 when dialing a number.

The converter 216, which also includes a processing device discussedbelow with reference to FIG. 7, interfaces the ordinary telephone 106 tothe wireless phone 204 or chipset. The converter 216 converts wirelessbased signals from the coupling 208 to POTS signals that are deliveredto the ordinary telephone 106, such as voice communication signalsand/or a ring indicator for an incoming call. The converter 216 alsoworks in the opposite direction to convert the POTS signals from thetelephone 106 to cellular phone based signals for transfer by thewireless cellular phone 204 or chipset. A more detailed example of theconverter circuitry of PCB 202 is discussed below with reference to FIG.7.

For various reasons, it may be desirable to monitor and/or confirm priorto use that that fixed wireless device 102 remains in the intended fixedlocation. For example, certain telecommunications regulations may permitlower rates to be applied to non-mobile telephone services, so verifyingthat the fixed wireless device 102 remains fixed allows the usage of thetelephone services to be charged at the lesser rate. Several techniquesmay be utilized for monitoring and/or confirming prior to use that thefixed wireless device 102 remains fixed.

As one example, the switch records that identify the particular basestation 114 and cell faces of a base station 114 that the fixed wirelessdevice 102 communicates with for a given call may be reviewed todetermine whether the fixed wireless device 102 has been used at morethan one location for a given telephone call of from one call to thenext. Thus, when charges are determined for usage, the determination ofwhether the fixed wireless device 102 has been used outside of theintended fixed location may be used to charge certain usage at a mobilephone rate while other usage is charged at a lesser fixed location rate.

FIG. 3 shows additional components of another embodiment of the fixedwireless device 102 that utilize GPS to determine whether the fixedwireless device 102 remains fixed. The circuit board 202 shown in FIG. 3of the fixed wireless device 102 includes the converter 216.Additionally, the circuit board 202 includes a GPS receiver 302 linkedto an antenna 308 that receives GPS signals from GPS satellites.Initially, the GPS receiver 302 may determine the location of theintended fixed location where the fixed wireless device 102 is currentlylocated and provide the location data to a memory device 304 for laterretrieval. Later, such as at the time a telephone call is attempted orduring an established telephone call, the GPS receiver 302 determinesits current location based on the received GPS signals and provides thelocation to a comparator 306.

The comparator 306 also receives the initial location previously storedin memory 304 and compares the current location to the previously storedlocation to determine whether the fixed wireless device 102 remains inthe initial location. The comparator 306 then provides the result to theconverter 216 where the telephone call can be terminated or prevented ifthe fixed wireless device 102 is not in the initial and intendedlocation.

FIG. 4 illustrates another embodiment that includes additionalcomponents on the PCB 202 to determine whether the fixed wireless device102 is in the intended fixed location through monitoring a networkmodel. The PCB 202 includes a topology component 402 that includes atopology generation module 404 and a topology verification module 406.The topology component 402 and its modules and operations that determinewhether the fixed wireless device 102 is fixed at the intended locationare described more fully in commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser.No. 09/742,764, which is incorporated in its entirety herein byreference.

The topology component 402 corresponds to the controller 26 of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 09/742,764. The topology component 402 maycommunicate directly with the wireless phone 204 or chipset over thecoupling 208 to determine network parameters such as signal ID codes andsignal strength. The topology component 402 communicates with theconverter 216 to indicate to the converter 216 whether the fixedwireless device 102 is in the intended fixed location or has moved sothat the converter 216 can terminate or prevent a call if necessary.

FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of the fixed wireless device 102 that isfixed within a vehicle 510, such as a mass transit vehicle. In such asituation, it may be desirable for security or for usage charge purposesto monitor and/or verify prior to use whether the fixed wireless device102 remains within the vehicle 510. To do so, additional components maybe included on the PCB 202 of the fixed wireless device 102 including areceiver 508 coupled to an antenna 506. The receiver 508 receivesshort-range electromagnetic signals sent by an antenna 504 of an emitterdevice 502 that is also fixed within the vehicle 510.

The receiver 508 provides a signal to the converter 216 that indicateswhether the signal from the emitter 502 has been received so that theconverter 216 may terminate or prevent a call if necessary. For example,if the fixed wireless device 102 is removed from the vehicle 510, thenthe receiver 508 will be out of range of the emitter 504 that remains inthe vehicle. The receiver 508 will then signal to the converter 216 thatthe signal is not received. The converter 216 will then prevent a callfrom occurring or terminate a call in progress until the fixed wirelessdevice 102 returns to within range of the emitter 502.

A further enhancement to the system of FIG. 5 utilizes an emitter 502that encodes a unique ID on the electromagnetic signal received by thereceiver 508 and also includes a memory and comparator as shown in FIG.3 that is coupled to the converter 216. The comparator receives theexpected ID from memory and the received ID from the receiver 508 andthen indicates to the converter 216 that the proper signal is receivedonly if the received ID matches the ID stored in memory. This preventsthe fixed wireless device 102 from operating when in range of anotheremitter device that does not provide the proper ID.

The emitter signal may be used as a one-time verification per call uponan attempt to send an outgoing call or receive an incoming call.Alternatively, the emitter signal maybe used as a keep alive signal sothat a call can be made and can continue only while the keep alivesignal is being received. The keep alive signal may be different foreach vehicle 510 utilizing a fixed wireless network discussed withreference to FIG. 1 or may be a generic signal applicable to all suchvehicles 510. Additionally, the telephone 106 that is coupled to thefixed wireless device 102 may also provide a signal encoded with an IDto the converter 216 so that the converter 216 can allow calls only whenthe ID of the emitter signal is correct as well as the ID from the phone106.

The requirement of an emitter 502 and/or a phone 106 with a specific IDthat is verified prior to allowing use of the fixed wireless device 102may be applied to other situations in addition to the vehicle setting.For example, this two-piece or three-piece verification system may beapplied in either a regular household or business setting to furtherguarantee that the fixed wireless device 102 is being used at theintended location and to further discourage theft and fraud.

FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of a fixed wireless device 102 where thePCB 202 includes a data capable wireless communication component 602that may operate in conjunction with a wireless phone 204 or mayestablish a wireless communication path to a base station 114. Forexample, the data capable wireless communication component 602 may be amodem device for use in conjunction with an analog wireless phone totransfer data wirelessly. Alternatively, the data capable wirelesscommunication component 602 may be a wireless modem capable of directlyestablishing the wireless connection to a base station 114 that data istransferred through. A separate data port 604 linked to the datacommunication component 602 may be provided for connection to acomputer, PDA, or other device. The port 604 may be of various formssuch as a serial port, USB, or IEEE 1394.

Although the device connected to the RJ-11 jack 104 is generallyreferred to as an ordinary telephone 106, it will be appreciated thatother communication devices may utilize the telephone services providedthrough the jack 104. For example, a computing device, video displaydevice, or other communication tool may be linked to the fixed wirelessdevice 102 through a jack 104. Additionally, a payphone may be linked tothe jack so that the fixed wireless telephone service is available onlyupon payment of a designated fee. This is particularly useful for thevehicle situation of FIG. 5 or fixed locations where a landline payphoneis not available.

FIG. 7 shows an example of the circuitry of converter 216 that isincluded on the circuit board 202 of the fixed wireless device 102 toestablish the fixed wireless service. The circuitry includes a processor702 that is linked to the serial bus of the cellular phone 204 throughthe phone adapter 208. The processor 702 is also linked to a DTMFreceiver 704 and an encoder 706. Furthermore, the processor 702 may belinked to the various additional components of the embodiments shown inFIGS. 3–6 to monitor whether the fixed wireless device 102 is in itsintended location during a call attempt.

The DTMF receiver 704 receives the tones resulting from the user dialingon the ordinary phone connected to the fixed wireless device 102. TheDTMF receiver 704 translates the received analog tones to data signalsthat are provided to the processor 702 to indicate the activity of theuser that produces the analog tone. The processor 702 then controls thecellular phone 204 accordingly through the interface to the serial busto bring about the equivalent activity for the wireless connection. Asdiscussed below with reference to FIG. 8, the processor 702 may queuethe various dialed digits indicated by the data signals from the DTMFreceiver 704 prior to outputting control signals to the cellular phone.The digits are queued until a specific key, such as the pound key, ispressed by the user. Then, all queued digits are sent to the cellularphone followed by a send command to simulate keypad input and therebyplace a call or otherwise send queued tones during a call.

The encoder 706 receives data signals from the processor 702 thatinstruct the encoder 706 to produce analog signals that approximatethose of a POTS system, such as the dial tone upon the user picking upthe handset as well as other indicator tones including the busy tone andthe off-hook time-out tone. These analog signals are transferred throughthe jack of the fixed wireless device 102 to the ordinary telephonewhere the corresponding tones are made audible for the user.

The processor 702 controls switches 726 and 728 to connect anddisconnect a ring generator 714 from the ring connection 732 and tipconnection 730 of the RJ-11 jack of the fixed wireless device 102. Foran incoming call, the processor 702 connects the ring generator to causethe ordinary phone to begin ringing. When the user picks up the handsetto answer the call, the processor 702 reverses the switches 730 and 732to connect the tip connection 730 and ring connection 732 of the jack toa voice circuit established with the cellular telephone 204 so thatbi-directional communication may occur.

The voice circuit is established through isolation transformers 722, 724for the tip connection 730 and ring connection 732 to transform betweena balanced ring and tip connection to an unbalanced signal-to-groundconnection. The voice circuit includes a converter 718 to convert theaudio transmission portion of the duplexed two-wire POTS signal to theaudio transmission portion of the four-wire cellular phone signal. TheDTMF receiver 704 receives the audio transmission portion of thefour-wire phone signal to translate the audio tones to data signals. Theconverter 718 also duplexes the audio reception portion of the four-wirecellular phone signal together with the audio transmission portion ofthe four-wire cellular phone signal to output duplexed POTS signals tothe connected ordinary telephone. The output of the encoder 706 isincluded on the audio reception portion of the four-wire cellular phonesignal and is duplexed into the POTS signal by the converter 718 forreception by the ordinary telephone through the tip connection 730 andring connection 732.

The ordinary telephone receives the standard −48 volt power across thetip connection 730 and ring connection 732 that is output by a talkbattery/DC—DC converter 716. The talk battery/DC—DC converter 716, aswell as one or more of the additional circuit components, are powered bya power supply 708. The power supply receives power from an inputconnection 712 through a protection fuse 710. The input connection 712may be of various types discussed above but an AC input is shown as anexample. The power supply 708 produces a standard operating voltage suchas 12 volts from the input voltage through known techniques such asrectification and transformation or conversion depending upon the formof the input voltage. The standard output voltage is distributed so thatthe ring generator 714 may convert it to 90 volt pulsed DC and the talkbattery/DC—DC converter 716 may convert it to −48 volt DC. A loopcurrent detector 734 is included within the tip to ring loop to detectcurrent variation that occurs due to the POTS telephone being on-hook oroff-hook, and the loop current detector 734 provides a signal indicativeof on-hook or off-hook to the processor 702.

The embodiment of the converter circuitry shown in FIG. 7 also providesan additional manner of monitoring and/or ensuring that the fixed deviceremains in a fixed location. This is done by including a zero crossingdetector 720 that receives input power from the input power source 712that provides AC power to the power supply 708. The zero crossingdetector 720 provides an output to the processor 702 that indicateswhether the zero crossing detector 720 detects an AC input. If the inputpower to the fixed wireless device 102 is not AC, such as because it isbeing powered by a battery so that it can be used while mobile, then thesignal from the zero crossing detector 720 to the processor 702 allowsthe processor 702 to recognize that that operability of the fixedwireless device should be prevented. Once AC power is restored, then theprocessor 702 recognizes from the zero crossing detector 720 thatoperability can also be restored.

FIG. 8 summarizes the logical operations of the processor 702 to handleinbound and outbound telephone calls established through the fixedwireless device 102. The logical operations begin by the processor 702recognizing an off-hook condition from the indicator of the detector 734at outbound operation 802 or detecting that the cellular phone serialbus indicates that an inbound call is occurring at inbound operation804.

When outbound operation 802 recognizes the off-hook condition, theprocessor 702 triggers the encoder 706 to produce the dial tone. Then,once the user begins to dial, the DTMF receiver 704 provides datasignals to the processor 702 for the received analog tones to indicatethat the user is dialing a number at signal operation 806. Also, at thispoint, the processor 702 terminates the production of the dial tone bythe encoder 706. Operational flow then proceeds to store operation 808where the processor 702 begins to queue the data signals that indicatethe various numbers that the user is dialing. Upon receiving the poundkey or other identifier key that indicates that the dialed number iscomplete, the processor 702 then sends the dialed digits that it hasstored over the serial bus to the cellular phone followed by sending thesend key at send operation 810 to simulate keypad dialing. The voicecall is established through the voice circuit in response to thecellular phone completing the outbound call for the dialed digits. Uponthe processor 702 recognizing that the ordinary telephone is on-hookfrom the indicator of the detector 734, the processor 702 sends the endkey to the cellular phone over the serial bus at end operation 812 toterminate the call.

When inbound operation 804 detects that the cellular phone serial bus isindicating an inbound call, the processor 702 activates the ring relaythat includes the switches 726, 728 to cause the ring generator 714 tobegin ringing the ordinary telephone through the tip connection 730 andring connection 732 at ring operation 814. Upon the processor 702recognizing that the ordinary telephone is off-hook from the indicatorof the detector 734, the processor 702 sends the send key command overthe serial bus to the cellular phone at send operation 816 to cause theinbound call to be answered by the cellular phone. Also at this point,the processor 702 deactivates the ringer 714 by changing the relays 726,728. The voice call is then established through the voice circuit. Uponthe processor 702 recognizing that the ordinary telephone is on-hookfrom the indicator of the detector 734, the processor 702 sends the endkey to the cellular phone over the serial bus at end operation 810 toterminate the call.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described withreference to various embodiments thereof, it will be understood by thoseskilled in the art that various other changes in the form and detailsmay be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention.

1. A system for providing telephone service to a POTS device interfacedto a wireless device that communicates through a wireless telephonenetwork, comprising: an emitter separate from the wireless device thatproduces a first signal; a receiver at the wireless device that isconfigured to receive the first signal when in proximity to the emitterand provide an indication of receiving the first signal to indicate thatthe wireless device is in proximity to the emitter; a converter at thewireless device for interfacing at least the transmission and receptionportion of the wireless device to a POTS connection such that the atleast transmission and reception portion provides telephone service viathe wireless telephone network to the POTS connection, wherein theconverter is configured to receive the indication from the receiver asto whether the first signal has been received and to terminate a call inprogress if the first signal has not been received; and a memory at thewireless device that stores a unique ID for the emitter, wherein thefirst signal has an encoded ID that identifies the emitter, and whereinthe converter is further configured to provide wireless telephoneservice to the POTS connection only when the encoded ID from the firstsignal matches the unique ID stored in the memory.
 2. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the wireless device includes circuitry to prevent useof the wireless device when the receiver indicates that the wirelessdevice is not in proximity to the emitter.
 3. The system of claim 1wherein the memory also stores a unique ID for a POTS devicecommunicatively linked to the POTS connection, and wherein the converteris configured to provide wireless telephone service to the POTS deviceonly when the encoded ID from the first signal matches the unique IDstored in memory and the unique ID for the POTS device matches theunique ID stored in memory.
 4. A method for providing telephone serviceto a POTS device interfaced to a wireless device that communicatesthrough a wireless telephone network, the method comprising: receivingat a receiver at the wireless device a first signal when in proximity toan emitter and providing an indication of receiving the first signal toindicate that the wireless device is in proximity to the emitter, thefirst signal being produced by the emitter separate from the wirelessdevice; using a converter at the wireless device for interfacing atleast the transmission and reception portion of the wireless device to aPOTS connection such that the at least transmission and receptionportion provides telephone service via the wireless telephone network tothe POTS connection, wherein the converter is configured to receive theindication from the receiver as to whether the first signal has beenreceived and to terminate a call in progress if the first signal has notbeen received; and storing in a memory at the wireless device a uniqueID for the emitter, wherein the first signal has an encoded ID thatidentifies the emitter, and wherein the converter is further configuredto provide wireless telephone service to the POTS connection only whenthe encoded ID from the first signal matches the unique ID stored in thememory.
 5. The method of claim 4, further comprising using, at thewireless device, circuitry to prevent use of the wireless device whenthe receiver indicates that the wireless device is not in proximity tothe emitter.
 6. The method of claim 4, further comprising storing in thememory a unique ID for a POTS device communicatively linked to the POTSconnection, and wherein the converter is configured to provide wirelesstelephone service to the POTS device only when the encoded ID from thefirst signal matches the unique ID stored in memory and the unique IDfor the POTS device matches the unique ID stored in memory.
 7. Acomputer-readable medium which stores a set of instructions which whenexecuted performs a method for providing telephone service to a POTSdevice interfaced to a wireless device that communicates through awireless telephone network, the method executed by the set ofinstructions comprising: receiving at a receiver at the wireless devicea first signal when in proximity to an emitter and providing anindication of receiving the first signal to indicate that the wirelessdevice is in proximity to the emitter, the first signal being producedby the emitter separate from the wireless device; using a converter atthe wireless device for interfacing at least the transmission andreception portion of the wireless device to a POTS connection such thatthe at least transmission and reception portion provides telephoneservice via the wireless telephone network to the POTS connection,wherein the converter is configured to receive the indication from thereceiver as to whether the first signal has been received and toterminate a call in progress if the first signal has not been received;and storing in a memory at the wireless device a unique ID for theemitter, wherein the first signal has an encoded ID that identifies theemitter, and wherein the converter is further configured to providewireless telephone service to the POTS connection only when the encodedID from the first signal matches the unique ID stored in the memory. 8.The computer-readable medium of claim 7, further comprising using, atthe wireless device, circuitry to prevent use of the wireless devicewhen the receiver indicates that the wireless device is not in proximityto the emitter.
 9. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, furthercomprising storing in the memory a unique ID for a POTS devicecommunicatively linked to the POTS connection, and wherein the converteris configured to provide wireless telephone service to the POTS deviceonly when the encoded ID from the first signal matches the unique IDstored in memory and the unique ID for the POTS device matches theunique ID stored in memory.